===Donald Trump 2016===
Donald Trump told voters in Sioux City that "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters." Just in case, at the next debate, Carson is bringing his knife, Jeb is bringing his mom, and Megyn Kelly is just bringing herself. --Zorek Richards 1.23.16
Hillary Clinton heard Trumps comments about shooting someone on 5th avenue, and suddenly remembered that it was on 5th avenue in Bosnia that she came under sniper fire back in 1996. --Zorek Richards 1.23.16
Michael Bloomberg is considering a Presidential run as an independent. Donald Trump is Ok with that and invited him to make the announcement in New York ....on 5th avenue.....in the middle.... --Zorek Richards 1.23.16
Trump said he could shoot someone and he still wouldn't lose any supporters. For the next debate, the RNC is probably fitting candidates for bullet-proof vests as we speak. --Zorek Richards 1.23.16
I'm going to have to rewatch the debate as I missed some of it. I still have some very hard core Trump connections on Twitter and though I thought they said they weren't watching the debate...they were sure combative.
--Zorek Richards 1/28/16
--Zorek Richards 1/28/16
Many Iowa papers are endorsing Hillary as the Democrat nominee but even though I'm not a Democrat I think they're overlooking the guy who has been a long proponent of liberal causes, who has helped fund Hillary's campaigns, and would likely do the best to further the DNC's agenda: Donald Trump. --Zorek Richards 1/31/16
Donald Trump is picking the Broncos to win over the Panthers in the Super Bowl. What this means is that if the Broncos lose he will call them losers and idiots, tell all his Trumpees to boycott them and claim they once came to him for a donation. --Zorek Richards 1/31/16
"I will appeal to Bernie Sanders supporters." --Donald Trump today on Face The Nation. Yeah, but, I think we already knew that. -Zorek Richards 1/31/16
"Unless I win, I would consider this a big, fat, beautiful—and, by the way, a very expensive—waste of time." -- Donald Trump about Iowa this weekend which if you are an Iowan isn't flattering. SO if he loses he will go on twitter and call Iowa all kinds of insults, tell his Trumpees to boycott the state, and then tell everybody that Iowa tried to borrow money from him once. --Zorek Richards 1/31/16
Alan Rudnick
It is embarrassing to watch a politician try so hard to make himself look like a conservative Evangelical Christian. It is troubling to see Christianity on display in such parody. It is saddening to watch Christianity be used as a political football for politicos and prognosticators to diagram and dissect. It is disheartening to watch Christianity be used as stepping stone to the presidency.
--Feb 9, 2016: Alan Rudnick: We missed our Christian moment, again
--Feb 9, 2016: Alan Rudnick: We missed our Christian moment, again
March 20, 2016: From Think Progress:
- In its simplest form, the prosperity gospel is an American Christian movement that teaches followers they can become rich though the art of positive thinking — and, more importantly, cutting large checks to their church and pastor. The controversial theology has long been criticized by progressive and conservative Christian leaders alike, especially the spending habits it encourages among ministers who uphold it, such as when Creflo Dollar (his actual name) of College Park, Georgia, asked his constituents to help him buy a private jet. But just like Trump’s unexpected rise to power within the GOP, prosperity preaching has proven inexplicably attractive: Lakewood Church, the congregation of megapastor and New York Times bestseller Joel Osteen, is now the largest church in the United States, filling seats in the retrofitted former home of the Houston Astros with as many as 40,000 worshippers every Sunday, all eager to hear the ostensibly lucrative message of the prosperity gospel.
The movement’s expansive influence is likely why Trump met with 40 prosperity gospel preachers and televangelists on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in September 2015. The meeting, which included prominent prosperity preachers such as Gloria and Kenneth Copeland, was blasted by Russell Moore as a gathering of “heretics,” but Trump won over the glitzy crowd anyway. - And this quote is rather revealing of Joel Osteen:
“I’m not really up to speed on all the politics,” Osteen replied. “[But] Mr. Trump is an incredible communicator and brander, like President Clinton said. He’s been a friend to our ministry. He’s a good man.”
Trump. Even buying endorsements from "Christian" leaders.
Lindsey Graham Files
"We're going to lose. You'll never convince me that Donald Trump is the answer to the problem we have with Hispanics. It will tear the party apart, it will divide conservatism, and we're gonna lose to Hillary Clinton and have the third term of Barack Obama. ... Here's what I want to tell people when we lose to Hillary: I told you that the immigration issue is killing us. We're doubling down on the problem we have with Hispanics. We went from self-deportation to forced deportation. Have you ever heard the statement too big to fail? We're too stubborn to win. So here's what I'm going to say in November when we lose: I told you so." --Senator Lindsey Graham 3.2.16
Jan 29, 2016:
Donald Trump, the "Christian" (Protestant. Presbyterian) Promises Christians Power if you Elect Him .As only he could, considering he says he never remembered ever having to ask forgiveness, Trump went to Iowa to make everyone there believe he is a good Christian. He also promised Christians "power" because "I'm there." No word from either of the two Corinthians, but in his usual rambling style, trump makes a case for Christians from Dordt College, a Christian liberal-arts school in Iowa:.
"If I said that about Christians, and if I said 'banned,' I'm telling you I would have had less difficulty........And that's pretty sad, because we're Christians. I'm Protestant. I'm Presbyterian..............I'm a true believer. And you're many true believers — I hope all — is everybody a true believer in this room? I think so. But Christianity is under tremendous siege,..................The power of our group of people together, I mean, if you add it up ... it could be 240, 250 million. And yet we don't exert the power that we should have. Now, I think some of the churches are afraid of their tax status, to be honest................But you know the fact is that there is nothing the politicians can do to you if you band together. You have too much power. But the Christians don't use their power..............We have to strengthen. Because we are getting — if you look, it's death by a million cuts — we are getting less and less and less powerful in terms of a religion, and in terms of a force..............When they don't want to say 'merry Christmas' in department stores anymore. I won't shop at places that don't say 'merry Christmas.' Guess what? I don't too much shopping, No, no, it's true. When I see these stores, and they have a red wall and they have nothing on it. They don't want to say 'merry Christmas' anymore. I say, 'Why don't you say merry Christmas?'.............I'll tell you one thing: I get elected president, we're going to be saying 'merry Christmas' again. Just remember that," he said. "And by the way, Christianity will have power, without having to form...................Because if I'm there, you're going to have plenty of power. You don't need anybody else. You're going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that."
While in Iowa over the weekend, though he has probably not stepped inside a church in many many years unless he was looking to buy the land for a Casino, went to a Iowa church. He picked a gay friendly church that not many people attend....got his photo op...and continued with his campaign.
Donald Trump, the "Christian" (Protestant. Presbyterian) Promises Christians Power if you Elect Him .As only he could, considering he says he never remembered ever having to ask forgiveness, Trump went to Iowa to make everyone there believe he is a good Christian. He also promised Christians "power" because "I'm there." No word from either of the two Corinthians, but in his usual rambling style, trump makes a case for Christians from Dordt College, a Christian liberal-arts school in Iowa:.
"If I said that about Christians, and if I said 'banned,' I'm telling you I would have had less difficulty........And that's pretty sad, because we're Christians. I'm Protestant. I'm Presbyterian..............I'm a true believer. And you're many true believers — I hope all — is everybody a true believer in this room? I think so. But Christianity is under tremendous siege,..................The power of our group of people together, I mean, if you add it up ... it could be 240, 250 million. And yet we don't exert the power that we should have. Now, I think some of the churches are afraid of their tax status, to be honest................But you know the fact is that there is nothing the politicians can do to you if you band together. You have too much power. But the Christians don't use their power..............We have to strengthen. Because we are getting — if you look, it's death by a million cuts — we are getting less and less and less powerful in terms of a religion, and in terms of a force..............When they don't want to say 'merry Christmas' in department stores anymore. I won't shop at places that don't say 'merry Christmas.' Guess what? I don't too much shopping, No, no, it's true. When I see these stores, and they have a red wall and they have nothing on it. They don't want to say 'merry Christmas' anymore. I say, 'Why don't you say merry Christmas?'.............I'll tell you one thing: I get elected president, we're going to be saying 'merry Christmas' again. Just remember that," he said. "And by the way, Christianity will have power, without having to form...................Because if I'm there, you're going to have plenty of power. You don't need anybody else. You're going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that."
While in Iowa over the weekend, though he has probably not stepped inside a church in many many years unless he was looking to buy the land for a Casino, went to a Iowa church. He picked a gay friendly church that not many people attend....got his photo op...and continued with his campaign.
May 7, 2016:
#NeverTrump didn't lose this week. . #NeverTrump has never lost & will not lose going forward. It's getting stronger. #NeverTrump #NotEvenOnce
NOW is the time for all conservatives to stand FOR the Constitution even if it's against the GOP. #NeverTrump
#NeverTrump does stand for something. It stands for sanity. It stands for honor. It stands for the Constitution
The Republican party has long been on the road to failure with conservatives. They are to the point where they even do everything they can to defeat them even though they are members of their own party. The mess that is in DC can be easily blamed on liberal policies and Democrats, but a lot of it is now at the feet of the GOP. In the world of the GOP they think that you are a conservative if you are just slightly right of the left. So as the left moves even further left..so does the GOP establishment. Trump, the current GOP establishment favorite, when asked, did not even know what a Conservative is. And once could write a book about how much Trump does not know about anything at all--from the Bible to the Constitution.
The Republican Party is no place for true conservatives. It's past time to exit. -ZRZ
#NeverTrump didn't lose this week. . #NeverTrump has never lost & will not lose going forward. It's getting stronger. #NeverTrump #NotEvenOnce
NOW is the time for all conservatives to stand FOR the Constitution even if it's against the GOP. #NeverTrump
#NeverTrump does stand for something. It stands for sanity. It stands for honor. It stands for the Constitution
The Republican party has long been on the road to failure with conservatives. They are to the point where they even do everything they can to defeat them even though they are members of their own party. The mess that is in DC can be easily blamed on liberal policies and Democrats, but a lot of it is now at the feet of the GOP. In the world of the GOP they think that you are a conservative if you are just slightly right of the left. So as the left moves even further left..so does the GOP establishment. Trump, the current GOP establishment favorite, when asked, did not even know what a Conservative is. And once could write a book about how much Trump does not know about anything at all--from the Bible to the Constitution.
The Republican Party is no place for true conservatives. It's past time to exit. -ZRZ
July 27, 2016:
Apocalyptic obsession that inspired ‘Left Behind’ series also fueling Trump support, ministers say
Eric Minton knew nothing about that when the series first appeared, and he was 10.
Minton said many in his Baptist family and church were swept up in the Left Behind drama, which contributed to a fear of abandonment in him.
“I had so much anxiety about God leaving me behind,” said Minton, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based Baptist minister studying to become a marriage and family therapist.
Being at home alone sometimes convinced him the novels’ predictions had come true.
“I thought all my family members had been raptured and God doesn’t love me,” he said.
Eric Minton
Minton said he recognizes that the series stoked such fears across the culture and in turn was fueled by the anxiety it helped create.
It’s comparable to the anti-Trump rhetoric Minton said he sees on Facebook nowadays.
“There is kind of a mass hysteria that progressives have about the rise of Donald Trump,” he said. “It’s reaching apocalyptic fervor.”
Even non-church-going Millennials can be caught up in it.
“Fear-based rhetoric is always captivating no matter what generation you’re from,” he said. --Eric Minton; Baptist Global News
Apocalyptic obsession that inspired ‘Left Behind’ series also fueling Trump support, ministers say
Eric Minton knew nothing about that when the series first appeared, and he was 10.
Minton said many in his Baptist family and church were swept up in the Left Behind drama, which contributed to a fear of abandonment in him.
“I had so much anxiety about God leaving me behind,” said Minton, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based Baptist minister studying to become a marriage and family therapist.
Being at home alone sometimes convinced him the novels’ predictions had come true.
“I thought all my family members had been raptured and God doesn’t love me,” he said.
Eric Minton
Minton said he recognizes that the series stoked such fears across the culture and in turn was fueled by the anxiety it helped create.
It’s comparable to the anti-Trump rhetoric Minton said he sees on Facebook nowadays.
“There is kind of a mass hysteria that progressives have about the rise of Donald Trump,” he said. “It’s reaching apocalyptic fervor.”
Even non-church-going Millennials can be caught up in it.
“Fear-based rhetoric is always captivating no matter what generation you’re from,” he said. --Eric Minton; Baptist Global News
Some elite commentators have argued that Trump's success shows the problems inherent in democracy: self-indulgent voters susceptible to flattery, irrational passions and prejudices sweeping the public square. There are many reasons not to accept this diagnosis of Trump, but here's the simplest. Trump himself palpably has no regard for democracy. He sees it as just another marketing medium, a chance to collect votes and applause as he collects cash and publicity in his other enterprises. Trump regards voters as customers, not citizens, and his business record gives plenty of evidence that he regards customers as suckers.
Trump is not democracy's harvest. He is the rotten fruit of oligarchy. Our hyper-capitalist and celebrity-happy culture cultivates the fantasy that rich people are our betters, natural rulers, brilliant and inherently interesting. Trump is the extreme version of that money-culture deformation of democracy. His version animates the populist wing of the Republicans, while the big-donor Citizens United version animates the Jeb Bush wing.
If we beat Trump, there's going to be plenty of temptation to recoil from the democracy that gave him his votes. Pundits will say that populism as such is a threat to political decency, and that democracy is a problem for wise elites to manage, not a source of legitimacy and an ethical imperative. We need to resist this.
Trump is fundamentally an anti-democratic figure, with no respect for ideas of civic equality or responsible self-rule. His "I am your voice" is a self-branding, self-marketing narcissist's version of strongman politics. If we defeat him but allow him to define what democracy means for the rest of us, democratic principles will be the losers. --Jeremiah Purdy (ABC Religion & Ethics) 08.29.16
Trump is not democracy's harvest. He is the rotten fruit of oligarchy. Our hyper-capitalist and celebrity-happy culture cultivates the fantasy that rich people are our betters, natural rulers, brilliant and inherently interesting. Trump is the extreme version of that money-culture deformation of democracy. His version animates the populist wing of the Republicans, while the big-donor Citizens United version animates the Jeb Bush wing.
If we beat Trump, there's going to be plenty of temptation to recoil from the democracy that gave him his votes. Pundits will say that populism as such is a threat to political decency, and that democracy is a problem for wise elites to manage, not a source of legitimacy and an ethical imperative. We need to resist this.
Trump is fundamentally an anti-democratic figure, with no respect for ideas of civic equality or responsible self-rule. His "I am your voice" is a self-branding, self-marketing narcissist's version of strongman politics. If we defeat him but allow him to define what democracy means for the rest of us, democratic principles will be the losers. --Jeremiah Purdy (ABC Religion & Ethics) 08.29.16
“God raised up, I believe, Donald Trump who was going to be the nominee in this election. I don’t think God sits things out. He’s a sovereign God. Donald Trump became our nominee. I think it’s very likely that in the day that we live in, that Donald Trump is the only individual who could win in a general election of the 17 who ran.”
-Former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) 08.30.16
-Former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) 08.30.16
Nov 10, 2016: Right Wing Watch: Jim Bakker: Trump’s Election Is ‘The Greatest Miracle I Have Ever Seen’
Right-wing televangelist and End Times prepper Jim Bakker hosted an election night broadcast at which jubilation erupted once the networks began officially declaring that Donald Trump had won.
Right-wing televangelist and End Times prepper Jim Bakker hosted an election night broadcast at which jubilation erupted once the networks began officially declaring that Donald Trump had won.
Nov 10, 2016: Chuck Baldwin: The Trump Victory: What We Saw And What We Need To See
Sept 14, 2016: Huffington Post: Popular Christian Author Is Downright Baffled By Evangelical Support For Trump
Philip Yancey wants to know: How can evangelicals support someone who “stands against everything that Christianity believes”?
Philip Yancey wants to know: How can evangelicals support someone who “stands against everything that Christianity believes”?
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Has anyone found the black box from the Trump campaign wreckage?? How else will we be able to find out what went wrong?? |
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“I am staggered that so many conservative or evangelical Christians would see a man who is a bully, who made his money by casinos, who has had several wives and several affairs, that they would somehow paint him as a hero, as someone that we could stand behind...........To choose a person who stands against everything that Christianity believes as the hero, the representative, one that we get behind enthusiastically is not something that I understand at all."
---Philip Yancey”
---Philip Yancey”
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has donated $100,000 for flood relief to a Louisiana Baptist church where Family Research Council President Tony Perkins is serving as interim pastor.
The Republican nominee and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, stopped at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church during an Aug. 19 visit to Baton Rouge, La., to survey damage and meet with victims and relief workers a week after a storm flooded much of central Louisiana. Also in attendance was Franklin Graham, president of the Christian international relief agency Samaritan’s Purse.
Perkins, who in 2015 famously agreed with a guest on his radio show that Hurricane Joaquin might be a sign of God’s wrath over the country’s legalization of same-sex marriage, was forced with his family to flee his own flooded house by canoe last week. The Family Research Council is a conservative Christian lobbying organization formed in 1981 by James Dobson. --Bob Allen @ Baptist News Global Aug, 22, 2016
The Republican nominee and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, stopped at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church during an Aug. 19 visit to Baton Rouge, La., to survey damage and meet with victims and relief workers a week after a storm flooded much of central Louisiana. Also in attendance was Franklin Graham, president of the Christian international relief agency Samaritan’s Purse.
Perkins, who in 2015 famously agreed with a guest on his radio show that Hurricane Joaquin might be a sign of God’s wrath over the country’s legalization of same-sex marriage, was forced with his family to flee his own flooded house by canoe last week. The Family Research Council is a conservative Christian lobbying organization formed in 1981 by James Dobson. --Bob Allen @ Baptist News Global Aug, 22, 2016
Oct 6, 2016: Christianity Today: Despite Mike Pence, Most Evangelical Pastors Are Not Ready to Vote Trump
Almost half remain undecided, with pastors split over which candidate characteristic is most important.
Almost half remain undecided, with pastors split over which candidate characteristic is most important.
Trumplets loathe the media. It brings them mixed messages, which frustrates them, bad news, which scares them, and rational debate, which terrifies them. They are desperate for relief, and so Trump baits them with attacks on the media who write “negative and horrible and false articles.” He promises to strengthen defamation law so that “we can sue them and win lots of money.” An underlying current is Trump’s support of the notion, joyfully embraced by Trumplets, that all media lies all the time.
---Tommy Birk
---Tommy Birk
Oct 9, 2016: Big Think: What Trump Can Teach Reason-Loving Smart Folks
Trump knows that logic alone often won’t sell (and often isn’t needed). Facts often don’t change minds.
Trump knows that logic alone often won’t sell (and often isn’t needed). Facts often don’t change minds.
The Republican Party was once a great party. It has disgraced itself by jumping into the abyss of selfishness, corruption, fear, and outright cruelty. They haven’t damaged America, they’ve eviscerated it. They should bow their heads in shame for sundering a good and decent president and making a President Donald Trump possible. -Tommy Birk
Oct 14, 2016: Christianity Today: Latest Survey: Most Evangelicals Are Not Voting Trump
Overall, the split between those with evangelical beliefs who support Donald Trump (45%) and those who support Hillary Clinton (31%) isn’t that far apart.
Overall, the split between those with evangelical beliefs who support Donald Trump (45%) and those who support Hillary Clinton (31%) isn’t that far apart.
Oct 27, 2016: Church Leader: Megachurch Pastor James MacDonald Calls Trump’s Evangelical Council a Joke
Over the past week, dozens of pastors and politicians have distanced themselves from the Trump campaign after audio leaked of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women. However, the latest defection, megachurch pastor James MacDonald, used language that Trump himself might grudgingly admire.
Over the past week, dozens of pastors and politicians have distanced themselves from the Trump campaign after audio leaked of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women. However, the latest defection, megachurch pastor James MacDonald, used language that Trump himself might grudgingly admire.
Nov 2, 2016: CBN: Why Pastor Saeed Abedini Backs Trump
Just days before the election Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini is publicly supporting Donald Trump, citing the billionaire's $10,000 gift to his family while he was in prison
Just days before the election Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini is publicly supporting Donald Trump, citing the billionaire's $10,000 gift to his family while he was in prison
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Nov 4, 2016: Charisma: Coalition of African American Pastors President: I'm Voting for Trump
Rev. William "Bill" Owens, the president of the Coalition of African American Pastors, recently penned an endorsement that ran as a full-page advertisement in The Washington Times newspaper. |
Streamed live on Nov 9, 2016. Trump Wins the Election | End of the Age with Irvin Baxter
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"Donald Trump has promised to punish any American company that moves operations overseas. The first scalp he took in this regard was that of Carrier, and he is promising more to come. This is the populism part. He is talking tough to the CEOs and their boards, and the conservatives who point out that tariffs make no economic sense (and who are correct about that) are simply gaming out the economics of the tariffs if applied. But it seems obvious to me that Trump is not going to be imposing all that many tariffs. He is destabilizing things in order to negotiate. He is going to threaten a lot of tariffs, but he is also going to sweeten a lot of deals in the back room—in the tax code and in regulatory agencies. What Trump is saying to assembly line workers is that he is going to punish American companies for moving to Mexico. What he is most likely to do is to stop the left’s insane policies of punishing companies for not going to Mexico". 12.5.2016
--Douglas Wilson
--Douglas Wilson
Dec 19, 2016: BCNN: In Last Stop on “Thank You” Tour, Trump Says Franklin Graham Was ‘So Instrumental’ In His Victory
In his last stop on his “Thank You” tour, President-elect Donald Trump said that evangelist Franklin Graham was “so instrumental” in bringing out the evangelical vote in his favor.
In his last stop on his “Thank You” tour, President-elect Donald Trump said that evangelist Franklin Graham was “so instrumental” in bringing out the evangelical vote in his favor.
Dec 19, 2016: Baptist Press: Moore clarifies comments on Trump supporters
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore has clarified that he never intended to criticize all evangelical supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, noting many were motivated by "biblical convictions" and "voted their conscience."
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore has clarified that he never intended to criticize all evangelical supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, noting many were motivated by "biblical convictions" and "voted their conscience."
Dec `19, 2016: BCNN: In Last Stop on “Thank You” Tour, Trump Says Franklin Graham Was ‘So Instrumental’ In His Victory
In his last stop on his “Thank You” tour, President-elect Donald Trump said that evangelist Franklin Graham was “so instrumental” in bringing out the evangelical vote in his favor.
In his last stop on his “Thank You” tour, President-elect Donald Trump said that evangelist Franklin Graham was “so instrumental” in bringing out the evangelical vote in his favor.